Saint Augustine Day Trip: Lake City

It was in 1859 that Alligator, Florida renamed itself Lake City. Up I95 to 295 and west on Rt. 10, it's about a 100 miles and a fairly easy ride to the closest city to Ichetucknee Springs State Park, our real destination.

We headed out this morning, February 23, 2008, just to explore the area and find an interesting restaurant before heading to the springs. We didn't. However, Wendys was on the way and as any Wendys affectionado will tell you, there are good Wendys and bad Wendys. This one was very good. So no fine dining, but we did find Keith Goodson, a muralist at work and decided to stop and say hello. Keith is an artist with national recognition and has an extensive portfolio that you can visit HERE. We watched him paint for a bit, but with a canvas the size of the side of a building, it's hard to follow his brush. This particular work appears to be a triptych, the first part completed, and he was working on the second. I could see the sketches, or photos of his studies, in his hand.

Aside from being a fantastic artist, he's a very nice fellow, willing to talk about his work and friendly about my photographing his activities and art. He said this project would take about six weeks to complete, and coincidentally the mural is about the Ichetucknee River, a major tubing destination for all of north Florida.

We were sorry we missed any points of interest in Lake City but we had to ask directions a few times, and once again we were not surprised to find some of the friendliest people in America.

Patsy Ittner, RN, Broker/Owner, Little Fox Realty, 904-687-3665, www.littlefoxrealty.com, Serving the real estate needs of Saint Augustine and Jacksonville, Florida.